Kenbaan (Kenbane) Castle,
County Antrim

From the Dublin
Penny Journal, Volume 1,
Number 31, January 26, 1833

About two miles northwest of the town of Ballycastle, county of Antrim,
on a narrow peninsula, composed of white limestone, which projects its
perpendicular front into the sea, are the ruins of the ancient castle
of Kenbaan, or the White Promontory--a name derived from that of the
precipitous cliff on which it stands.

At present, little remains of this building except a part of the massy
walls of the tower or keep, which from its bold and romantic situation,
adds not a little to the beauty of the scenery of this wonderful coast.
During summer, it is often frequented by parties, and the scene of many
a festive collation; where instead of the grim warder pacing at its
gate, are seen inside its portal the "fairest of the fair."

Tradition states this building to have been erected by the Irish sept
of Mc. Hendric; but as its scanty ruins bear a striking resemblance to
those castles reared by the first English settlers on the coast from
the Boyne to the Bann, we think its erection may with greater
probability be ascribed to them, or if it be an Irish castle, it is at
least erected on the plan of those of the adventurers.

Be this as it may, about the beginning of the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
we find it held by the Scottish clan of Mac Alister, who arrived in
Ireland with the Mac Donnells from Cantyre. In 1568, the Mac Alisters
entered into a conspiracy against the English quartered in those parts,
and in an encounter which took place, two English horsemen were slain;
and soon after, "Ranuel Oge Mac Alister Caraghe," chief of the Mac
Alisters, was killed in revenge, by some English soldiers. On this
commotion, Captain William Piers, governor of Carrickfergus, and
seneschal of the county of Antrim, proceeded with some troops to the
Glynns, where he made three of the Mac Alisters prisoners, one of whom
he hung in chains; and Alexander, chief of that sept, making his
submission about this time, the Mac Alisters sunk beneath the English
power. Many of this name are still to be found in the Glynns.

Carrickfergus,

S. M'S. (Samuel M`Skimin)

﻿

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